IIDs Now Required For All DUI Offenders

Many people drive drunk many times before they are even caught. Still, even the consequences of a first-time DUI are not enough to deter a person from getting behind the wheel intoxicated a second, or even more times. California not only has penalties that increase in severity for each subsequent DUI as a deterrent, but they also have the requirement of installing ignition interlock devices for some first time DUIs. Of course, a judge can order the installation of an ignition interlock device at any time, but as of January 1st, SB 1046 goes into effect, requiring all repeat DUI offenders and first-time offenders in accidents with injuries install an IID, as CBS Local San Francisco reports.

Senate Bill 1046, authored by Senator Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, went into effect on January 1st. The bill requires that repeat DUI offenders and all first-time offenders involved in an accident with injuries have an ignition interlock device installed on their vehicles.

The law is an expansion of the successful pilot program that began in Los Angeles, Alameda, Sacramento, and Tulare Counties and ran between 2010 and 2015.

Senator Hill points out that according to DMV data, offenders who have an ignition interlock, or IID device installed are 73% less likely to be convicted of subsequent DUIs or be involved in DUI accidents than those with no device.

Hill’s office further stated that over the past 30 years, there have been 50,000 fatalities and more than 1 million injuries attributed to DUI drivers in California. More, according to the California Highway Patrol, statewide drunk driving arrests are up 20% in 2018 compared to last year.